news to use THE NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW Bermuda pays key UK suppliers a visit


BY STEVE HARTRIDGE BERMUDA Tourism accompanied several island hotels to the UK last month for a week of trade appointments. Properties including The Southampton Fairmont, The Reefs, Cambridge Beaches, and Rosedon, all widely featured by UK operators, met with operators and agents to discuss both opportunities and hurdles to selling the destination. “It was a productive week. I was impressed by the quality of the agents we met with… they seemed motivated to sell more of the island,” said J.P. Martens, Chairman of the Bermuda Hotel Association and General Manager of Grotto Bay. The UK accounts for just 10 per cent – around 22,000 last year – of Bermuda’s tourists and the key to growing this is for island products to work closer together to broaden the range of options on offer to operators and consumers, said Billy Griffith, Bermuda’s Director of Tourism. “Whether it’s golf,


weddings, history, diving or our unique cuisine, we need to give UK consumers more choice. Doubling the number of UK visitors would make a big difference to Bermuda’s economy,” he added.


Quark’s new expeditions


QUARK Expeditions 2014 Arctic line-up features 15 new voyages, including three incorporating Arctic Canada. They will take place aboard the new 114-


guest Sea Explorer. The ice-strengthened luxury ship has ocean-facing cabins, and an all-inclusive bar and offers sea kayaking. Voyages include a 16-day Greenland to Churchill cruise which takes


IN BRIEF


More options to Victoria Falls: There will be more flight options to Livingstone, Zambia, once Kenya Airways launches a new three-times-a-week service on June 2 via Harare International Airport in Zimbabwe. The new route will mainly target tourists heading to Victoria Falls. Kenya Airways also flies to Zambia’s capital, Lusaka. kenya-airways.com


JA Resorts heads for Seychelles: Dubai- based JA Resorts & Hotels will open its first international property later this year with the Enchanted Island Resort in the Seychelles. In a National Marine Park, the secluded island hideaway will feature just 10 Creole-style villas with private plunge pools, beach access and four- poster beds. jaresortshotels.com


Etihad to Washington: Etihad Airways


has started non-stop daily flights between Abu Dhabi and Washington Dulles International Airport. The service


is the


fourth North American destination for Etihad after New York, Chicago and Toronto. Etihad has also opened a US$6.8 million premium lounge in Terminal A at Dulles. etihad.com


H&J’s Thailand deal: Hayes and Jarvis


has seven nights at the new Amari Hua Hin, Thailand, from 899pp. The deal includes flights with Thai Airways and transfers,


Sandals includes luxury in Grenada


Ann Shutte, Bermuda Department of Tourism; Shawn Crockwell, Bermuda Minister of Tourism and Transport; Billy Griffi th, Director, Bermuda Department of Tourism


Bermuda “needs more icons and should push its


‘Britishness”, honeymoons, said Classic


Collection’s Karen Rondan. “There remains a perception that Bermuda has a very American flavour and it’s not until you get to the island that you appreciate the historic and cultural links with Britain. It should be an obvious selling point in this market, but it is not played up enough,” she added.


in fjords,


polar bears and walruses; the 13-day In the Footsteps of Franklin cruise, which covers Greenland and Canada’s high Arctic, stopping at a UNESCO World Heritage Site glacier in Greenland and the site of the Franklin expedition in Canada; and Epic High Arctic, which takes in Baffin Island and visits Inuit carvers and artists in Cape Dorset (also 13 days). Prices start from £3,525pp for the three cruises and the season begins in June.


Said Andrew Bird, Director of Purely Bermuda: “Bermuda is doing very well for us. It’s an island escape that really is unique. There’s no other place quite like it and for such a small island there’s a good range of accommodation.” British Airways operates a daily service


to Bermuda during the summer and a five- times-a-week service over the winter. months. gotobermuda.co.uk; BASeatSale


The remainder of Quark’s 2014 Arctic season is centered around Arctic Svalbard and the surrounding region, featuring itineraries to Iceland and Greenland, as well as its signature North Pole voyage, taking 250 people to the top of the world aboard a powerful nuclear icebreaker. The ship will carry the Olympic flame for the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi aboard. Prices start from £5,095pp for 15 nights. quarkexpeditions.com


SANDALS Resorts International will open the doors to its newest Luxury Included resort, Sandals LaSource Grenada Resort & Spa, in December. On 17 acres on the pristine Pink Gin Beach, Sandals LaSource Grenada will offer guests ‘the highest level of luxury with an unprecedented look and feel’. “We are thrilled to introduce our guests to another breathtaking Caribbean island; we now offer even more alluring destinations for a luxury- inclusive holiday,” says Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, Chairman of Sandals Resorts International. Located minutes from the airport, Sandals LaSource Grenada will feature 231 rooms in three villages: Pink Gin, which includes a zero-entry infinity pool; Italian with river pools for guests staying exclusively on the ground level; and Tahiti, with a thatched-roof swim-up bar.


There will be a choice of nine dining options, including Sandals first top-tier steakhouse called Butch’s Chophouse and a fully-equipped indoor and outdoor wellness centre with gym, waterfalls and reflective pools. sandals.co.uk/grenada


for travel in June. Regional


activities include roaming the area’s first vineyard by elephant and the nearby night market. Hua Hin is two and a half- hours from Bangkok. hayesandjarvis.co.uk


6 May 2013


www.sellinglonghaul.com


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